Did notknow where to go with this and hope this Forum is Appropriate

[SOLANCO]

I find taking photos of rifles and shotguns to be difficult. Granted, I am working with an iPhone. Sure I can take lots of pics but getting one that does a good job of showing a long gun as a whole with good details is just not so simple. Any suggestions?

 

[Flying B]

I like to have the rifle at 45 degree and it lets you get more rifle in the picture all my photos are taken with iPhone

 

[64Springer]

Nevermind.


My phone pictures stink too.

I use a Canon digital camera for posting rifle pictures online.

 

[Ed C.]

I find taking photos of rifles and shotguns to be difficult. Granted, I am working with an iPhone. Sure I can take lots of pics but getting one that does a good job of showing a long gun as a whole with good details is just not so simple. Any suggestions?

Pay attention to lighting. Make sure you have good light on the detail areas without reflections. After that it depends on the quality of your phone/camera and focus. Try not to have a background that is "busy". It is hard. That is why so many people will take photos of smaller sections that are of interest.

 

[mushka]

My thoughts on this is that the gun should have a very light background, flat surface with no vertical or horizontal lines of any kind to distract. No grass, trees, or other things behind it.

 

[tenngun]

I have a coffee table book about fifty years old. Shots of everything from hand gonnes and bench matchlocks to the high dollar shotguns of the 1920s. They said in the intro it took them days sometimes to get the right shot
I hate artist

 

[The Miner '49er]

You know they say, never bring a knife to a gun fight. Well, for good photos, never bring a cell phone to a photo shoot. Cameras are the right tool for taking excellent photos that can be enlarged and still reveal details. Phones are, or should be, used as communication tools. Get an inexpensive digital camera, read some photography books and watch your pictures improve. Good luck.

 

[Blitz]

I have a coffee table book about fifty years old. Shots of everything from hand gonnes and bench matchlocks to the high dollar shotguns of the 1920s. They said in the intro it took them days sometimes to get the right shot
I hate artist

Be sure to have a decent bacground not too light in color lioke whit or yellow a darker color will soak up excess light an have little or no reflection that and the auto flash are probably the biggest impediment to getting decent photos. turn off your camera flash unless you are very good , For most people natural lighting is good, out doors can be very hard though with background clutter and unnoticed items,
I usually try to shoot inside or out with morning sun, less glare and reflection indoor with North or East lighting works well . Be sure to be aware of shadows, especially on subject.
A little pre planing and you`r off to a good shoot,

Good shooting to all.
Blitz

 

[TDM]

Lighting, proper background, and learning the basic editing functions and cropping on your iPhone will improve your results.

 

[wiscoaster]

Watch out for reflections and glare. Your brain automatically accounts for them so they don't stand out so much in your vision, but the camera really picks up the glare and it adversely affects the photo. Shooting from a slightly different angle can make all the difference.

Always take at least two shots of the same subject, so you can pick and choose the best.

 

[Pablo232]

I find taking photos of rifles and shotguns to be difficult. Granted, I am working with an iPhone. Sure I can take lots of pics but getting one that does a good job of showing a long gun as a whole with good details is just not so simple. Any suggestions?

I recently took a macro photo course from a professional (product) photographer

For his professional work he still uses very expensive digital cameras but for personal work he has generally abandoned his expensive regular digital cameras in favour of his i-phone. Recent generations of different phones have software that greatly exceed that of cameras, so do not be ashamed of using your phone. You do not need the very expensive latest phone either.

a really useful free addition that can turn a blah picture into a really good one is a free photo editing app called SNAPSEED. Developed by google. I use it on my iPhone but google it and you will find versions for android an for PC.

There are decent free tutorials available online and if you invest a couple of hours just playing with it, you can correct many things like poor exposure, contrast etc. Very user friendly.

Hope this is useful to you. If you find you take a really good picture, get a nice big print of it and display it. Most pictures these days exist only on screens, often too small to do them justice, and lost in a lot of digital clutter.

Along with the whole rifle, consider taking real close pictures of small details, not just a chunk of rifle, but perhaps a hammer or a nipple with all the rest out of focus (Snapseed again)

Hope this helps, and gives you fun really looking at all the tiny details of your rifles.

 

[ormond tony]

IMHO: A great looking muzzleloader will overpower most background snafus. Concentrate on glare from ML and make sure all details of carving, etching, etc. show. Keep background as plain as you can, in keeping with the situation. I guess I am a minimalist.

 

[Tumbledown]

Panoramic mode with a slow parallel pan?

 

[Sooty Scot]

I'm Still fighting your battle, so I sympathize.
Finding a good, contrasting but somewhat neutral background seems to help.
Cloudy sun vs. bright sun seems better, as well.

I've been tempted to find a skilled photographer & offer to trade instruction in shooting the muzzleloader for a photo session. I've found similar trades of homebrew ( or teaching to homebrew) to work more often than not.

 

[outdoorman]

My phone has a Panorama setting for pictures. I don't know if it will work for this, but it would be worth experimenting with just to see.

Good luck.

Outdoorman

 

[Mad L]

I don't like the photos my phone takes (Android something or other), my Cannon Sure Shot takes way better photos but even then I just don't like 'digital' photos when you want Detail.

Photoshop is your friend!
Sure there is a learning curve but once you dial in a good recipe of layers and/or filters you can spruce up an average photo to look like an expert photographer took it.
Now of course Photoshop can be EXPENSIVE but they have a watered down version that does pretty much all an average person would need.
Then there is Paint Shop that is a little cheaper and does all the light version of Photoshop does.
Lastly there is GIMP, absolutely FREE and does just about everything the high end version of Photoshop does.

https://www.gimp.org/

 

[French Colonial]

Some of the newer phones have cameras with very good resolution, that said there is so much more you can do with a good digital camera, but it takes a whole nother learning curve to realize the potential.

If you do not want to take the time to learn probably best to stick with a good camera phone and Photoshop.